The Movement of India the 11th day was the return of the 15 member team that travelled to Delhi to warn the two central Ministries of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Environment and Forests and also the burning of the effigy of Member (Civil) of NCA, Mr. M.K. Sinha who has committed a fraud by changing the back water levels (BWLs), which is against the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDTA) and scientific framework. April 23, New Delhi: PUCL, NAPM and many other civil liberties groups condemn the most savage incident of killing of a physically challenged girl, Suman, and her 70 years old father, Tara Chand, in Mirchpur village of Hisar district in Haryana on April 21 by setting on fire several houses belonging to the Dalit community by miscreants of caste Hindus. Groups demand immediate arrest of the culprits and also of the policemen who were on duty there and in whose presence the incident took place. April 23, Kalinganagar: Tata Steel Plant Foundation being led with Mysterious Murders & Forceful Demolitions in Kalinga Nagar. April 23, New Delhi: In light of negligible progress on rehabilitation and resettlement and advanced dam construction, the Ministry of Environment and Forests suspended the work on the Maheshwar dam under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, until the study of submergence to be caused by the dam is made available, until agricultural land for allotment to the oustees is identified, and the villagers rehabilitated and resettled. April 22, New Delhi: Around 1000 oustees of the Maheshwar dam began a satyagraha and indefinite fast demanding that the Environment Ministry must immediately suspend the construction of Maheshwar dam under S.5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 until a comprehensive Rehabilitation Plan is submitted, and over 70,000 oustees are rehabilitated and resettled according to the conditions of the environmental clearances and the approved rehabilitation policy. Representatives of the oustees of Omkareshwar, Indira Sagar, Man and Upper Beda dams also participated in the struggle. April 21, West Bengal: violence broke out in Birbhum district of West Bengal where the adivasis of the surrounding villages have been fighting against the stone quarry industry in the area over the past six months. The stone quarries are owned by outsiders, who control a big mafia network, and are well connected with political parties such as the CPI(M), Trinamool Congress and Forward 43
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October-December 2009
Block. The adivasis have been fighting against the environmental degradation and the exploitation by these stone quarries under the leadership of adivasi organizations called the Birbhum Adivasi Gaonta and Majhi Pargana Baisi. April 21-22, New Delhi: Civil society organisations, peoples movements and social action groups from South Asia organise Assembly of a Union of South Asian Peoples at Jawaharlal Nehru University as a counter to the official SAARC meeting to be held in Thimpu from 28-29 April 2010. April 20, New Delhi: The Right to Food Campaign expresses its disappointment with the “narrow manner’’ in which the proposed food security Bill was being formulated and sought a public debate on the subject. At a meeting with Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, a delegation of activists said the proposal to provide 25 kg of foodgrains to a limited number of Below Poverty Line households was meaningless in the face of high malnutrition and spiralling prices of essentials. April 19-20, New Delhi: National Peoples Audit of SEZs held at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teenmurti House, Delhi. April 17, Mizoram: The Hmar Peoples ConventionDemocratic (HPC-D) in its press statement urged the Mizoram government to reconsider its policy on the construction of the controversial Tipaimukh Dam project to be built near the Mizoram and Manipur border. The HPC-D stated that it is firmly committed not to seek separation from Mizoram but to strengthen it against outside actors who are planning to steal and grasp the rich natural resources and land of the people of Mizoram. April 15-19, New Delhi: The Right to Food Campaign organized a Dharna cum relay fast outside parliament at Jantar Mantar from 15th April to 19th April, 2010 to oppose the draft National Food Security Act. This event was also an opportunity to reiterate the demands of the Right to Food Campaign. More than 2500 people from different parts of the country participated in this five day event. April 14, Srikakulam: Sandeep Pandey, National Convenor, NAPM, visited Srikakulam districts, on an invitation by the Movement against Thermal Power Plant, Somepeta, Srikakulam district. He was joined by B. Ramakrishna Raju, State Convenor, NAPM, Saraswati Kavula (Movement against Uranium Projects), K Prasad (Forum for Good Governance), Dr. Y. Krishna Murthy and Deenabandhu of the MTPP, Sompeta. This trip was coordinated by JV Ratnam, journalist and environmental activist from Visakhapatnam.